Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Trump Expected to Issue a Flood of Pardons Tomorrow; Biden Administration Gears Up to Take on Major Challenges; Washington D.C. Tightens Security Ahead of Inauguration; Pelosi Expected to Deliver Impeachment Article to Senate This Week. Aired 9-9:30a ET
Aired January 18, 2021 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:27]
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good Monday morning, everyone, I'm Poppy Harlow.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Sciutto. Welcome to a special holiday edition of NEWSROOM. It is an historic week. But nothing about this inauguration will be like those before it. The nation's capital is on lockdown as President Trump's days in office wind down. Just two to go. Fencing, barricades, and listen to this. Some 25,000 National Guard troops filling Washington, D.C. as President-elect Biden prepares to take office.
Trust me, as I drive around the Capitol here, these scenes are remarkable to see. That said, and this is important, armed protests feared for Sunday did not materialize in the end.
HARLOW: Yes, that's a really important point, those security concerns coupled with the continuing health crisis and a president who still refuses to concede the election are all hanging over the Capitol and this morning, we are learning more about President Trump's plans for his final days in office as well as pretty stunning new details about the deadly Capitol insurrection and, of course, what President-elect Biden plans to do on day one.
We'll get to all of that. Let's begin this hour with our Pete Muntean. He joins us.
Pete, on what Jim was describing as pretty surreal I suppose when you think about America in terms of guarding from domestic terrorists ahead of the inauguration.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is surreal, Poppy. And things in Washington get only more and more restricted by the minute. In fact, this is about as close as one can get to the Capitol on foot right now. And we are blocks away. You can see one of the checkpoints behind me, staffed by members of the National Guard. The Guard tells me 21,000 members are here from across the country right now. That number to go up to 25,000 by Inauguration Day.
All of this is to prevent a repeat of that attack on the Capitol and the outgoing and former police chief of Capitol Police says he did not expect this to be as severe as it was.
Here's what he told "60 Minutes."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVEN SUND, FORMER U.S. CAPITOL POLICE CHIEF: They came well-prepared and coordinated. This was no less than a coordinated violent attack on the United States Capitol.
We're expecting some large crowds, they're going to come down, their grievance on the Capitol and the counting of the votes. We expected altercations between some of the counterprotests. We may have some people within the group that may be armed. We had continuously planning for that. But nothing but an armed violent attack on the United States Capitol Building.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MUNTEAN: It only gets harder to get to D.C. from here on out. Metro has closed 13 stations here in D.C. and the bridges from Virginia to D.C. were closed starting tomorrow through Inauguration Day. We have also learned that the FAA will further restrict the already very restricted airspace around Washington.
This is going to be an inauguration like no other -- Poppy, Jim.
HARLOW: It will, indeed. Let's hope a really safe one. Pete, thank you for the reporting.
The FBI is now investigating if at least one of the rioters in the U.S. Capitol attack possibly stole a laptop from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office with, Jim, and another just sort of surreal thing.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
HARLOW: The possible intent to sell it to Russia.
SCIUTTO: CNN justice correspondent Jessica Schneider joins us now.
So, Jessica, there are new questions now about possible foreign support. Contacts with some of the rioters. But still the biggest focus remains, does it not, on domestic sources and organizations of this?
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: It does. And this case that we're going to about to talk to is sort of an anomaly here. So this information about the suspect's intentions, it's coming from an informant who's talking to the FBI. And the informant is claiming that this woman, Riley June Williams of Pennsylvania, that she potentially stole a laptop from Nancy Pelosi's office with the intention of selling it to Russia's foreign intelligence service.
Now, we're checking with Speaker Pelosi's office to see if a laptop has actually been stolen because the informant's tip to the FBI, it does seem a bit flimsy. The FBI is still investigating this. But the informant did follow up with the FBI saying the plan to sell the laptop fell through and this woman Williams is now considering destroying the laptop.
But, guys, she has not been found yet by the FBI. She's deleted her social media accounts. But it does highlight a continued question here, you know, what was stolen from the Capitol? Did it contain any sensitive national security information? So this is an ongoing investigation by the FBI.
But you're right, Jim, the big concern here is from domestic threats.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
[09:05:00]
HARLOW: And to that point, Jess, federal investigators say that an Army Reservist who has secret level security clearance and a long record of posting his extremist views online among those who rioted and charged?
SCHNEIDER: Yes. So this Army Reservist, he was tracked down because someone who knew him was providing information to the FBI. So his name is Timothy Hail Cuccinelli. And he was recorded on the phone Thursday talking to this informant. This man, he said he encouraged the mob to advance to the Capitol. He also said he was directing this mob with voice and hand signals.
Now Hail Cuccinelli, this Army Reservist, he has been charged by the feds but it's unclear if he's actually under arrest or actually been found. And this raises the concern for these so-called insider threats as we move toward January 20th. The head of the D.C. National Guard today is assuring the public that all of these troops who are manning the streets, 25,000 in all, that they will go through renewed multiple levels of screening.
Here's what he said this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM WALKER, COMMANDING GENERAL, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA NATIONAL GUARD: A regular background check is enhanced with more screening, more details in its layer. So the FBI is part of it. The Secret Service a part of it. And once they are certain that there is no insider threat, then that soldier, guardsman or airman is given a credential.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHNEIDER: And they are all over the streets of Washington. And we reported last week that the U.S. Army is working with the Secret Service to determine if any of these troops on the ground need additional background screening and, of course, Jim and Poppy, anyone who joins the U.S. Military, they do undergo that initial series of background checks before they are even allowed to serve.
But it's just remarkable that this is even a question now and that these people have to undergo this additional screening to make sure they aren't an inside threat, guys. SCIUTTO: That is truly an incredible reality. Right? The U.S. Military
has to screen its own, it feels the need to screen its own for an insider threat.
Jessica Schneider, thank you for staying on top of it.
With just two full days left in office, President Trump is expected to issue some 100 pardons and commutations tomorrow on his last day. But sources say right now, as far as we know, Trump not expected to take the remarkable step, unprecedented step of pardoning himself.
HARLOW: That's interesting. Let's ask our John Harwood why, our White House correspondent.
I was surprised reading that. They don't think he's going to pardon himself or his family?
JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You know, I think, Poppy, we should all brace for surprises between now and noon on Wednesday.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
HARWOOD: We don't know what he's going to do. The one thing we know is that he will act in what he believes is his own best interest because that's what he always does. Just step back and think about the arc of his presidency over the last two-and-a-half months since he lost the election on November 3rd. First of all, completely stopped doing the actual work of the presidency, in particular, of trying to get on top of the pandemic that we are now -- that is still cresting in the United States that we are on track as Ron Klain, the incoming White House chief of staff said, we're on track to have 500,000 deaths by the end of February.
Secondly, he's consumed himself with this fantasy that he won the election. The attempt to somehow overturn the will of the American people that culminated in that deadly insurrection on January 6th, that threatened the United States, that got him impeached, made him the only president ever to be impeached twice. In the time since then, the president has been focused on the one unrestricted power that he still possesses and that is the power on his own signature to pardon people.
Now we expect 100 pardons. That's not a record number by any means. Our colleague Kevin Liptak has tallied the number of pardons that previous presidents have done. Barack Obama had several hundred pardons just before he left office. Mostly low-level drug offenders that were consistent with his view of what was erroneous policy. The president could -- this president could do the same thing. Of course, he passed criminal justice reform.
But he's consistently acted to try to use the pardon to the shield himself, pardon people who were involved in the Russia probe, for example. Paul Manafort, Roger Stone, Mike Flynn. Pardoning his children, trying to pardon himself would be consistent with that. But we just don't know how that's going to come out and one of the reasons why everything is cloaked in mystery, guys, is that for six days, this president has not been seen in public.
He has generally retreated from interacting with the press, from talking to the public since he lost that election. That continues now and we will see the results over the next two days.
HARLOW: OK. We're just going to have to wait as you said, John Harwood, thank you for reporting this morning at the White House.
When President-elect Joe Biden is sworn into office on Wednesday, none of his Cabinet nominees have been confirmed yet. Still the new president plans to sign about a dozen executive orders on his first day.
[09:10:07]
SCIUTTO: Yes, it is unusual because normally a lot of the very senior appointments are fast tracked so that the president has key people in place.
CNN's Jessica Dean has more on Biden's ambitious day one agenda.
We've often seen this. President Obama did it, Trump as well, use the pen, right, executive orders to make a change immediately. Where and how do we expect Biden to the lead off?
JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, much like you're talking about, Jim, we expect him to sign a number of executive orders as soon as he assumes office. A lot of these are campaign trail promises that we heard him talk about again and again on the campaign trail that he now wants to make good on. And we're confirmed in a memo from his incoming chief of staff Ron Klain. I'll run you through some of them.
On day one, he wants to re-enter the Paris Climate Accords. He wants to roll back the travel ban that affects predominantly Muslim countries that President Trump and his administration put into place. Also, they're going to do a number of things around COVID. They want to put mask mandate in place for federal property. They want to extend the restrictions on evictions and foreclosures. And also extend that pause on student loan payments for people who are out there struggling right now amid the COVID pandemic to make payments on those student loan payments.
But again, a lot of these things are what Biden promised to do really almost a year ago when we were back in Iowa, in New Hampshire. We heard him talking about this. And this is a part of a concerted effort, of course, Jim and Poppy, for them to telegraph to the American people that he's getting in, making good on these promises and getting to work.
Now some more progressive Democrats really hope he would use his executive order even more than he plans to, but Biden himself has said he doesn't want to rely on that too much. He and his team say that they expect what they call robust congressional action to get a lot of their legislative agenda through.
SCIUTTO: Yes. DEAN: And so that's going to of course hinge on Congress being willing
to play ball with them.
HARLOW: Everyone, every governor certainly is counting on the Biden administration to deliver on what they're promising is that 100 million vaccination doses, not just ready, but, you know, in people's arms in the first 100 days. They're standing by that. Right? Can they do it is the question?
DEAN: Right. Right. Poppy, they are standing by the fact that they have enough supply and that they can get 100 million doses done in their first 100 days. What they have promised. Now, everyone across the Biden team, the incoming CDC director all agree, this is going to be a heavy lift for them. But it's something that they think they can do.
Here's the incoming chief of staff Ron Klain. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RON KLAIN, INCOMING WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: We are inheriting a huge mess here, Jake. But we have a plan to fix it. The president- elect laid out that plan on Friday, five concrete steps to move us forward, to make pace with the vaccination.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
DEAN: So part of those steps that he rolled out on Friday, of course, include, Jim and Poppy, the Defense Production Act and amping up supply of vaccine to make sure it can get to as many people as possible. But there's no doubt, this is a very heavy lift. It's going to be tough to do -- Jim and Poppy.
SCIUTTO: Listen, in the midst of the pandemic just going off the charts here, clearly job number one for this administration.
Jessica Dean, thanks very much.
And still to come this hour, just stunning video. If you haven't seen it, you really need to. It shows what was happening on the Senate floor as rioters stormed the Capitol. Here's some of it right there as well. Former U.S. Capitol police chief says the attack was, quote, "coordinated."
HARLOW: And on that note, we're going to speak with a Democratic senator this hour who will be a juror in the president's second impeachment trial. A big question this morning, though, is when will that trial begin?
And yet another tragic reality, nearly 400,000 Americans have died from coronavirus as we close in on the one-year mark of this pandemic. The new challenges facing the Biden administration ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:15:00] SCIUTTO: Well, the more we learn the more stunning the Capitol riot
was. We're getting a new look at the chaos that unfolded inside the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. New video released by "The New Yorker" magazine shows what went down, in particular, as rioters broke into the Senate chamber, I mean, Poppy, to see these images, how far they got is just remarkable.
HARLOW: Yes, and for how long they were in there and what was going on. Before we show this to you, we want to warn you, it does contain vulgar language. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNKNOWN: You're outnumbered. There's a -- millions of us out there and we are listening to Trump -- your boss.
(CROSSTALK)
UNKNOWN: We're peaceful --
UNKNOWN: Let the people in!
UNKNOWN: Knock-knock, we're here.
UNKNOWN: Is this the Senate?
UNKNOWN: Where the -- are they?!
UNKNOWN: Where are they?
UNKNOWN: While we're here, we might as well set up a government.
(CHANTING)
CROWD: Treason!
UNKNOWN: All right, let's take a seat, people! Let's take a seat.
UNKNOWN: Nancy Pelosi --
UNKNOWN: Where the -- is Nancy?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Wow. With us now --
SCIUTTO: Yes --
HARLOW: To talk about that and more is former Washington D.C. Police Chief and CNN law enforcement analyst Charles Ramsey. Good morning to you, commissioner.
CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Good morning --
HARLOW: You're also the Commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Force. RAMSEY: Yes --
HARLOW: One of the things our viewers just heard is twice rioters --
SCIUTTO: Yes --
HARLOW: Saying, where are they? Where are they? Which begs the question, what were they going to do if the members of Congress were in the chamber and on the floor? What is your reaction to seeing it like that now?
[09:20:00]
RAMSEY: Well, first of all, I mean to say that it's scary is really an understatement. I mean, you've got a couple of things going on, one, they're clearly looking for members of Congress, and had they been able to get their hands on members of Congress, we can only imagine what might have happened. There is also footage that shows them going through documents. At the very least, they're sensitive documents, if not classified documents, trying to get their hands on that, taking photographs and so forth, and possibly even stealing computers. And so this was well organized. This wasn't just a bunch of random people who entered the Capitol in some kind of protests. This was very well organized. They had intent to actually locate members of Congress and you could hear from the shouts of some in the crowd, they were going to do them harm.
SCIUTTO: Yes, you heard the now former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund say last night that, yes, they believe the attack was coordinated and planned. Yes, they did have information about the possibility of armed people to be among the protestors. But, they did not know that there would be an armed, violent attack. And I just wonder what your view is of the intelligence failure here. Because the fact is, I mean, the president said from the stage, we're going to the Capitol together, right? I mean -- that intelligence was open source, as they say. It was not hidden --
RAMSEY: Yes --
SCIUTTO: In the shadows here. And again, I don't want to cast dispersions because they had a hard go -- and by the way, a Capitol police officer died in all this. But did the leadership in your view fail?
RAMSEY: Yes, no question about it. And I think there were multiple points of failure, not just on the Capitol police but elsewhere as well. You know, that's why there has to be a deep dive into what actually took place on January 6th, because you have all these different reports out there. I heard a report just a day or so ago that the intelligence section of the Capitol police actually had information that there were plans to storm the Capitol. Chief last night who I happen to know, by the way, he actually worked for me for a period of time when I was chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, is saying they had no intelligence that they were planning on storming the Capitol. I don't know who's accurate in terms of that. But there needs to be a close look at that. Why weren't they more prepared? Because that part is clear. They were
not prepared. Either with an external security plan in terms of the perimeters that they had established or internal. I mean, when you look at that, you see individual officers -- I mean, you know, why wouldn't you have more people just guarding the Senate and House chambers? I mean --
SCIUTTO: Yes --
RAMSEY: Just as a precaution. I mean --
SCIUTTO: Yes --
RAMSEY: You know, you got one cop walking into the Senate --
SCIUTTO: Yes --
RAMSEY: Chambers trying to get people to leave. I mean, it makes no sense to me at all.
HARLOW: Commissioner, listen to this from the acting deputy director of the Department of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli last night on "60 Minutes".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEN CUCCINELLI, ACTING DEPUTY SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: There's a lot more online chatter, if you will, that has come up since January 6th. But I would point out that a lot of that chatter isn't Capitol, nation's Capitol focus. It's more general across the country.
SCOTT PELLEY, CBS NEWS: Has the suspect who planted two pipe bombs during the attack on the Capitol been caught?
CUCCINELLI: As you and I sit here speaking, the answer to that is no.
PELLEY: So you have him to worry about?
CUCCINELLI: Of course.
PELLEY: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: Commissioner, do you believe what these rioters, also now spread out across the country did the greater risk this week and on inauguration day is actually outside of D.C. and at other state Capitols?
RAMSEY: Yes, there is no question about that. Not just Capitols, but there are other --
HARLOW: Yes --
RAMSEY: Buildings, other locations, sensitive sites, critical infrastructure. I mean, you've got a lot of different targets that potentially could be in play. I mean, D.C. is locked down to a point now where I just do not believe anything is going to happen, at least not in the area of where the inauguration is going to take place. But the more you harden one area, the more the other areas begin to look soft. And so this is a threat that isn't going to end on January 20th. This is a serious threat of domestic terrorism. That means that all these targets are going to be in play, and the most troubling part is, all these assets cannot remain in place forever. I mean, right now, you've got all these people surrounding Washington.
SCIUTTO: Yes --
RAMSEY: What happens when they go home? What happens --
SCIUTTO: Yes --
RAMSEY: When they leave? What changes both in terms of physical structure around the Capitol and the White House will be changed? What about the number of people that are there to guard? I mean, this is -- this is very troubling.
HARLOW: Commissioner Charles Ramsey, it is -- we're hoping for the best this week. Thank you so much for being with us this morning.
RAMSEY: Thank you.
[09:25:00]
HARLOW: As you've heard, it's going to be a week unlike any other on Capitol Hill. President-elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated Wednesday and the house speaker is expected to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate. The question is when? Ahead, we're going to speak with Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota who is also going to be a juror in that trial.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HARLOW: Welcome back. Well, as soon as tomorrow, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could deliver the impeachment articles to the Senate. But big questions remain about what happens then because the Senate impeachment trial of a soon-to-be former president has never happened before. With me now is Democratic Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota. She's going to be a juror in the trial.
[09:30:00]
